I’ll post the daily Market Report and Market Analysis after the close. Here’s some news…
DURABLE GOODS ORDERS (WSJ)
“Orders for big-ticket manufactured goods surged in July
to a record high thanks to a jump in aircraft purchases…Purchases of durable
goods…rose a seasonally adjusted 22.6% to $300.1 billion in July from the prior
month, the Commerce Department said Tuesday…Excluding transportation, orders
fell 0.8%, though the prior month's gain was revised up to 3%...the weakness in
July orders excluding transportation equipment indicated that business spending
cooled at the beginning of the second half of the year after ending the first
half on a strong note.” Story at…
http://online.wsj.com/articles/durable-goods-orders-surge-22-6-in-july-1409056584CONSUMER CONFIDENCE UP (Business Insoder)
“According to the Conference Board's new report, the consumer confidence index jumped to 92.4 in August, the highest level since October 2007….This is up from 90.3 in July, and it was much stronger than the 89.0 forecasted by economists.” Story at…
ISLAMIC STATE SEIZES AIRBASE (Reuters)
“Islamic State militants stormed an air base in northeast
Syria on Sunday, capturing it from
government forces after days of fighting that cost more than 500 lives, a
monitoring group said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least
346 Islamic State fighters were killed and more than 170 members of government
forces had died since Tuesday in the fight over Tabqa base…” Story at…
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/25/us-syria-crisis-idUSKBN0GO0C520140825?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNewsIt was about a year ago that a number of Politicians were clamoring to arm the anti-Syrian forces and provide US air support to over-throw Assad. Turns out the critics were right; most of the anti-Syrian forces seem to be radical Islamists.
COMMENTARY FROM WALTER WILLIAMS
BLACKS MUST CONFRONT REALITY (Creators.com)
Excerpts follow: “How much of what we see today can be
explained by racial discrimination?...To begin to get a handle on the answer,
let's pull up a few historical facts about black Americans….In 1925 New York
City, 85 percent of black households were two-parent households…Also, both
during slavery and as late as 1920, a teenage girl raising a child without a
man present was rare among blacks….A study of 1880 family structure in
Philadelphia found that three-quarters of black families were nuclear families
(composed of two parents and children)…The black illegitimacy rate in 1940 was
about 14 percent; black illegitimacy today is over 70 percent, and in some
cities, it is over 80 percent…The point of bringing up these historical facts
is to ask this question, with a bit of sarcasm: Is the reason the black family
was far healthier in the late 1800s and 1900s that back then there was far less
racial discrimination and there were greater opportunities? Or did what experts
call the "legacy of slavery" wait several generations to victimize
today's blacks?...If it is assumed that problems that have a devastating impact
on black well-being are a result of racial discrimination and a "legacy of
slavery" when they are not, resources spent pursuing a civil rights
strategy will yield disappointing results.” – Walter E. Williams is the John M. Olin distinguished professor of economics
at George Mason University, and a nationally syndicated columnist. Commentary
at…http://www.creators.com/conservative/walter-williams/blacks-must-confront-reality.html
Isn’t it interesting that Al Sharpton will get the attention from the press; Walter Williams will get none.
